Here’s the weighty story behind Deepika Padukone’s costumes in Padmavati

With a lavish budget and a director’s expansive vision, Padmavati appears like poetry on screen. A lot of effort has gone into the look of the film’s leading lady and ‘goddess queen’, Deepika Padukone.

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his grand canvas and immense budget for his films and Padmavati is no exception. Deepika Padukone, who essays the titular role of Queen Padmini in the film, has a lot of weight on her shoulders, and we mean literally. A lot of research has gone into crafting the look of the film’s lead characters, especially Deepika. The lehengas are heavy and handcrafted.

With a lavish budget, Bhansali had the luxury of taking his designers to various locations to scout for the costumes and props for his movie.

Deepika in a still from Bajirao Mastani.

Though the dresses are quite heavy, they are lighter than what Deepika wore in Bhansali’s previous films Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani. One of Deepika’s lehengas in Ram Leela reportedly weighed 30kg while her armour in Bajirao Mastani weighed 20 kg.

Deepika wore a heavy lehenga just for the poster shoot of Ram Leela.

In this, Deepika just followed what is tradition for Bhansali’s leading ladies. In fact, Madhuri Dixit’s costume in Devdas’ Kahe Ched was rumoured to be 30kg.

Anushka Sharma’s lehenga in Channa Mereya from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was also reported to be 20kg.

Talking about the weight of Deepika’s costumes in Padmavati, her designer Rimple told Pinkvilla, “We have tried our best to keep it as light as possible. Like I mentioned, Devdas is a very recent story. Though it’s a very old novel, the story of Padmavati is even older. It belongs to 11-12th century, so the fabrics that were used or the embroideries that were done were all handmade, as was the case back in the era. So there is no machine work nor have we used anything inorganic. We have only opted for organic fabrics. Just because the fabrics are organic, they are airy. I have used mulls, chanderis and kotas. I tried to make them comfortable. But in the end, they are Indian garments and all our garments are a bit heavier than the western ones.”

Shahid Kapoor plays the role of Maharawal Ratan Singh while Ranveer Singh is Alauddin Khilji in the film that is slated for December 1 release.